OVERSTOCK IS ON ROUND 5 OF LAYOFFS!! Having worked there, I can assure you they DO NOT care about the employees. The first layoff was to supposed save $4 million dollars in expenses. Below will show that they have done anything but that. IF YOU HAVE OVERSTOCK STOCK- SELL IT ASAP. The company WILL BE SHUT DOWN NEXT YEAR!
THIS is what they have since then done that makes them hypocrites. Email to Patrick from the executives.:
Hi Patrick.
I don't want this to come off as a gripe session – or turn into one through additions to my question – though I'm afraid that it will, simply due to the nature of the topic. So, I want to set a tone of openmindedness and appreciation by prefacing my question by expressing appreciation for my job, and for the great effort that the leadership team puts into making this company successful.
My question is regarding executive bonuses. Can you help me understand? I noticed that many executives received bonuses in the form of large chunks of RSUs, some of which were as large as 6K-20K units each (if I remember correctly from the Form 4s). At $18.70 per share (the price on 2/13, the transaction date), that has a value of $112K-$374K. I also saw that today, Overstock filed a Form 8-K, disclosing that Jonathan Johnson received a $500k bonus, along with a $50K raise in salary (in addition to his RSU award). All this on the heels of a large layoff, and an announcement that bonuses and raises would not be handed out.
The communications I saw about the lack of bonuses and raises did say that there would be exceptions, which I am fine with – gotta reward your top performers – but when I saw that caveat, I didn't anticipate seeing one executive get bonuses worth over half a million dollars, and a pay raise big enough to pay for retaining one of the employees who lost their job. Especially when that executive is heading up an arm of the company in Medici that has, to date, been unprofitable. Obviously, there is a necessary measure of patience that is required with a new venture like Medici. But could a half million-dollar bonus, to go along with a $400K salary, wait until after profitability?
I understand that executives are valuable human capital assets, and we need to keep them happy. But from the bottom looking up, it feels like they're being rewarded in the face of a lack of overall company success last year, and at the same time the company at large foregoes the rewards.
Again, I don't want to just sit here and complain about something I don't have inside knowledge about. But from outside of the board room, this doesn't have a great look. I'm reserving judgment, but it's hard to avoid a little bit of disappointment as I see these SEC disclosures come out, with my lack of inside knowledge. So, I'd love it if you could help me understand the reasoning behind such generous executive bonuses.